268 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



through the wrack-matted stakes the movements of the 

 various kinds of waders as they were driven towards me 

 by the quickly flowing tide. 



It proved a dehghtful study ot bird-hfe. The long- 

 billed curlews and godwits, quartering the flats like so 

 many pointers ; the knots, plovers, redshanks, and oyster- 

 catchers dodging nimbly here and there and everywhere ; 

 a huge flock of dunlins, wheeling over the banks; and a 

 whole colony of herons standing like so many grey sentinels 

 along the serrated margin of the flats. 



But mark how quickly the hungry tide swallows up 

 bank after bank, driving the restless fowl ever shore- 

 wards, until the advance guard of curlew is well-nigh 

 within range of my stand under the old fish-weir. 



" Cur-lee ! cur-lee ! " shrieks out the leader of the 

 herd, warning his fellows that danger lurks behind 

 the weed-wreathed wooden piles. But the challenge 

 comes too late, for not only does he bite the dust — or, 

 rather, mud — to a charge of No. 5, but his consort 

 also comes down with a broken wing, ere the remainder 

 of the herd wheel sharp to the right-about and out of 

 danger. 



Next a little trip of five bar-tail godwits come within 

 range, one of which is duly accounted for. Then a single 

 curlew is shot at and missed, and then the incoming tide 

 floods me out of my " lay-up " and causes me to beat a 

 hasty retreat shorewards. 



